Joe McFadden

08/10/19 • 84 min

Joe McFadden joins Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles. He started out in the detective series Taggart and went on to star in Take The High Road, The Crow Road, Heartbeat and Holby City. In 2017 he won Strictly, and he describes why he is donning sparkles again - to appear as Tick/Mitzi in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Gelong Thubten grew up in London and found himself in New York making a career as an actor. He explains how he ended up as a monk and a spiritual teacher, teaching meditation to clients including: the United Nations, Google, Her Majesty’s Prison Service, and the actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Tilda Swinton. Victoria Nixon was spotted in Bond Street in London by the photographer Helmut Newton. She reminisces about working as an international model while grieving the loss of her entire family by the age of 24 – two by suicide. Colleen Blair became the first person to swim the Minch, the challenging stretch of water between the Inner Hebrides and the Scottish mainland. She also swam the English Channel when she was 20 and Loch Ness. She comes live from The Scottish National Open Water Championships at Loch Venachar. Professor Hugh Montgomery is a distinguished physician, known for his pioneering genetic research. He’s also climbed mountains, run ultra-marathons, and he holds the world record for playing a piano underwater. He reveals how he came to write a novel after a late night drinking session with Lynda La Plante. Susan Hill shares her Inheritance Tracks: The Sea Interludes from Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes, and Mozart’s Oboe concerto 3rd movement played by Nicholas Daniel.

Producer: Louise Corley Editor: Eleanor Garland

Producer: Louise Corley Editor: Eleanor Garland

Previous Episode

Stephen Hough, Stephen Poliakoff

Aasmah Mir and the Reverend Richard Coles are joined by the concert pianist and composer Stephen Hough. As an international performer he spends much of his life at airports, on planes and in hotel rooms and he talks about the thoughts and observations he has made during his travels which form his new book Rough Ideas. Cartoonist Michael Leunig explains how, after an unpromising start, he discovered he could draw and became Australia's 'national living treasure' thanks to his popular characters, Mr Curly, Vasco Pyjama and the Duck. Michael is appearing at the Greenbelt Festival in Northamptonshire later this month. Olivia Potts swapped a career as a criminal barrister to become a cook and food writer following the death of her mother. Baking became her comfort during this emotionally difficult time and her book A Half Baked Idea explores how going back to her mother's recipes helped her come to terms with her loss. Jackie Cornes tells the story of falling in love as a teenager and how she defied her disapproving parents and traveled half way across the world to follow her heart. And the playwright and director Stephen Poliakoff chooses his Inheritance Tracks: the Forsyte Saga theme by Eric Coates and Willow by Joan Armatrading.

Producer: Paula McGinley Editor: Richard Hooper

Next Episode

Skin, George RR Martin

Skin from Skunk Anansie made headlines this summer when it was pointed out that she was the first black British artist to headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury, not Stormzy. That was in 1999 and Skunk Anansie were five years into an incredible run of chart hits such as “Weak”, “Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good)” and “Charity”. Skin discusses her childhood, her career and what it was like being the only black, gay woman in the 1990’s music scene.

Lisa Faulkner was scouted as a model at 16 before becoming an actor at the age of 20. She was well known for roles in Dangerfield, Brookside and Holby City before famously meeting a grisly end in Spooks. In 2010 she won Celebrity Masterchef, has since become a food writer and now co-presents John and Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen with her fiancé John Torode. She has published the memoir Meant To Be: My Journey to Motherhood which describes the death of her mother when Lisa was just 16 and her years navigating infertility, IVF and adoption.

Joel Golby’s book Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant: Modern Life as Interpreted by Someone Who is Reasonably Bad at Living It describes how the journalist, whose father died when he was 15, became an adult orphan at the age of 25 when his mother died. He talks about the impact of the sudden and unwelcome intrusion of adult responsibility into his otherwise hedonistic life.

Dr Dean Burnett is a neuroscientist, author and stand-up comedian. He wrote the international best -sellers The Idiot Brain and The Happy Brain. His new book for teenagers is called Why Your Parents Are Driving You Up The Wall and What To Do About It.

Game of Thrones author George RR Martin shares his Inheritance Tracks.

Producer: Laura Northedge Editor: Eleanor Garland